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Written by John R. Vile, published on January 1, 2009 , last updated on February 18, 2024

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Frederick Schauer (1946– ), a legal scholar and expert on constitutional law, is the Frank Stanton Professor of the First Amendment at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. His writings on the First Amendment are notable for their philosophical rigor.

 

Schauer has been involved in academia

Born in Newark, N.J., Schauer earned a bachelor’s degree and MBA at Dartmouth and a law degree at Harvard University. After two years in private practice, he began teaching. His academic career has taken him to several universities, including the University of Virginia, University of Chicago, and Michigan Law School, as well as to Dartmouth and Harvard.

 

Schauer served as the Kennedy School’s academic dean from 1997 through 2002. He has also been involved in projects related to constitutional developments in several foreign countries.

 

Schauer is known for challenging First Amendment defenses

Although passionately devoted to free speech, Schauer is known for challenging some of the most notable defenses of freedom of speech, including those by John Stuart Mill.

 

Among his books are The Law of Obscenity (1976); Free Speech: A Philosophical Enquiry (1991); Playing by the Rules: A Philosophical Examination of Rule-Based Decision Making in Law and in Life (1991); Law and Language (1992); The Philosophy of Law (1996); and Profiles, Probabilities, and Stereotypes (2003).

 

John Vile is a professor of political science and dean of the Honors College at Middle Tennessee State University. He is co-editor of the Encyclopedia of the First Amendment. This article was originally published in 2009.

 

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